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Thursday, July 27, 2017

One of the most original story ideas I've ever read! Lots of fun, tension, and even a pixie. 5 star review - go get this book!

~ About the book ~

A year after the world was thrown into magical chaos, Harrison Cody takes part in an expedition to learn the cause.

What his team finds is an unfathomable enemy, who intends to finish what was started and wipe out every remaining survivor.

Harrison is the key to stopping it, but doing so will come with an unbelievable sacrifice, one he might not be willing to make.

~ My Review ~

I’ve read the original Mayhem book, as well as Prelude to
Mayhem, which is book 1 in splitting the original into two parts. When I
learned of this approach, I wasn’t sure it would make sense as I liked the
original and change is hard for me! ;-) But I did enjoy seeing the characters
and the new world more in-depth in Prelude.

Static Mayhem also did not disappoint. We learn just a bit
more about the characters, their pasts, their personalities and the world is
described in greater detail which is all great fun. This book is a bit darker,
less of discovery, more a mission to possibly return the all the mayhem to boring
normalcy (of course that would restore a lot of lives but sad to lose magic!)

The main character, Harrison, has some rough moments in this
book. He transitions from an amusing, sometimes blundering, but very likeable
guy to someone in a leadership role in a scary world with someone actively
trying to wipe them out. Being thrust into this kind of difficulty is
understandably hard, especially balanced with Harrison’s determination to save
those he cares about, even if it means sacrificing himself.

As usual, Glimmer is my favorite character. I enjoyed
learning more about her decidedly odd circumstance of being the only pixie left
as well as just how powerful she might be. We don’t see as much of Dorothy and
Mitchell in this book for logical reasons, but I thoroughly enjoyed the
continuation of the story and can hardly wait for the next installment.

Static Mayhem is highly recommended, both for those who read
the original and those who haven’t.

Edward Aubry is a graduate of Wesleyan University, with a degree in music composition. Improbably, this preceded a career as a teacher of high school mathematics and creative writing.

Over the last few years, he has gradually transitioned from being a teacher who writes novels on the side to a novelist who teaches to support his family. He is also a poet, his sole published work in that form being the sixteen stanza “The History of Mathematics.”

He now lives in rural Pennsylvania with his wife and three spectacular daughters, where he fills his non-teaching hours spinning tales of time-travel, wise-cracking pixies, and an assortment of other impossible things.

After fleeing slavery, Rielle James burns with the desire to
topple OneEarth Bank and end its enslavement of young people as Contracts. When
she learns that her friend Nathan has been sold to a logging company where
Contracts die or vanish without a trace, she assumes a false identity and
becomes a slave again to help him escape.

Her act of subversion uncovers the horrific truth behind the
OneEarth Bank’s role in Contract disappearances and its link to a global
pandemic.

Can Rielle and Nathan escape and expose the truth before
it’s too late?

~My Review~

One word review: Wow!

The details:

I enjoyed Enslavement, the first book in Melinda Friesen’s
One Bright Future series, so jumped at the chance to review Subversion, book 2
even though I have started a business and my writing/reading world has
diminished over the past year. Even though I enjoyed book 1, I did comment in
my review that I thought Rielle, the main character, allowed things to happen
to her, she wasn’t really taking the reins in her own rescue.

That thought is completely and instantly gone from the first
pages of Subversion. Rielle is determined to rescue Nathan, a fellow Contract
at the Banker’s house. He was supposed to help her escape in Enslavement, but
when things go wrong, she escapes without him and he’s captured and sold into a
very dangerous position at a logging camp.

Even though Rielle is now with Justin, nephew to her previous
owner and supporter of ending the slavery setup, she can’t leave Nathan to die,
so she conspires to be sent to the camp to rescue him. And Rielle’s rebel aunt
finds a way to communicate with her and asks her to up the risk by finding out what
secret the camp is hiding and why so many people are disappearing there.

Of course Nathan would rather she be safe rather than risk
her life saving him, so the rescue starts on rocky footing. There is daily
tension between her kitchen co-workers, the often injured loggers, and the
brutal supervisors. Rielle doesn’t back down even when she should. I won’t give
away the rest of the story, but the action and tension are non-stop, Rielle is
a true hero through gut-wrenching twists. The ending is painful, because of course
it’s not the end and book 3 can’t come soon enough.

The writing is top-notch, grammar and punctuation in good
shape, the story excellent. 5 stars. Don’t miss this one – go read Enslavement
to get the maximum enjoyment from Subversion and then deal with waiting for book
3 like me!

That's the promise made by OneEarth Bank after a global
economic collapse--but only for those who accept the insertion of a commerce
chip.

When Rielle's parents refuse to comply, government officials
tear her family apart. As punishment for her parent's crimes, Rielle is forced
into a Community Service Contract--a legalized form of slavery--and sold to a
wealthy, abusive banker.

The Banker's secrets hold the key to Rielle's freedom, but
will she risk prison or even death to escape and search for her family?

Melinda Friesen was born in Portland, Oregon. She
attended school in Texas and met a vastly interesting Canadian man, who she
allowed to drag her to his home in the wilds of Manitoba, Canada. Living in an
igloo wasn't easy. Wait. She didn't actually live in an igloo, but that would
make this story much more interesting.

Among her accomplishments are surviving -40 degree
weather, gestating four human beings inside her body, and staying happily
married to that Canadian man for over 20 years despite the weather conditions
he's exposed her to. And she writes too!

Melinda Friesen writes short stories and novels for
teens. Enslavement, a YA sci-fi/dystopian read, is her first published novel
and the first book in the One Bright Future series. Her work has appeared in
Freefall Magazine, the Metro News and the upcoming Forging Freedom II
anthology. She was shortlisted in the Writers' Village International novel
contest, spring 2014. Her short stories have placed in several contests
including earning grand prize in the 2013 Central Canada Lit Fest short story
contest.

In a city of lies and deception,
only one thing stands between chaos and justice. For centuries, a band of
outlaws called the Amaranthine has kept the peace in Ormere and hidden in plain
sight whilst the Order of Sorcerers spreads their deadly magic among the city’s
inhabitants.

After losing her fiancé in [a] bust
gone wrong, Amaranthine Agent Kaylan Avilion returns home to discover that
Elijah didn’t die but instead was changed by the twisted guards of the Order,
who seek to find a dangerous artifact tied to Kaylan’s past and the murder of
her family. When her sister goes missing and a foe from their past remerges,
Kaylan knows she must save Freya before she’s poisoned by the very people who
took Elijah away from her. But how will Kaylan react when she learns Elijah’s
secret and can they come together to stop the Order’s plan in time?

Dark Revenge:

Darkness is sweeping through the
city of Ormere as unnatural creatures stalk through the streets. People are
dying and time is running out as a new evil threatens to take control of
everything. The Amaranthine Order has been decimated leaving only a few of its
people left to fight the coming terror.

Stunned by her sister Freya’s
betrayal and plot to take over the city, Kaylan must do everything she can to
find out what Freya plans to do when she finds an infamous book linked to the
murder of their family. A book considered so dangerous that the last High Lord
erased its location from history, the Amaranthine Chronicles are said to
contain the darkest of all magics.

Kaylan is happy to finally have her
ex-fiancé, Elijah, back in her life but he’s not the man she once knew and
loved. After being turned into a shapeshifter, Elijah struggles to control his
inner beast and his lingering feelings for Kaylan.

Can Elijah and Kaylan come together
to stop Freya and uncover the secrets of the book before it’s too late?

The Final Battle:

Darkness has claimed the city of
Ormere and death has become a certainty for anyone stalking its empty streets.
The government is in ruins and lawlessness ensues.

After their last encounter, Kaylan
and Elijah barely managed to thwart her sister, Freya’s, latest attempts to
find and use the elusive Amaranthine Chronicles. But in her desperation to
receive ultimate power, Freya will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Even
if it means destroying the last of her family.

Kaylan and Elijah must work on
their fragile relationship and put their personal feelings aside to find the
book and stop Freya before it’s too late. But with their allies growing thin,
and a gang of ruthless shapeshifters close on their trail, will they finally
find the book and stop Freya before time runs out? And will Kaylan have to make
the ultimate sacrifice to save her city and the man she loves?

~ My Review ~

The Amaranthine Chronicles is set in an imaginative world of magic, mental powers, shapeshifters, and of course, the typical good guys and bad guys and really bad guys. The characters are well developed and it's clear what each are striving for.

The main character, Kaylan, can fly, even carrying her wolf-form boyfriend, communicate with him and others mentally. Some of the other Amaranthine agents carry crystals and charms for instant transportation, creation of light, and other miscellaneous abilities that pop up when needed.

Good thing for the flying ability or Kaylan and Elijah wouldn't be able to break into a mansion repeatedly by going through upper floor windows. While Kaylan tries to find her sister, the city is overrun with creatures that have been turned into shifters of some kind and are uncontrollable since they're recently turned. Virtually every Amarantine agent is killed except Kaylan and her group. Through the novellas, it's revealed to Kaylan that her memories have been altered and much of what she knows about her deceased father and sister is untrue. She and Elijah end up in several tense situations, barely escaping death.

I give the story concept and setting 3 stars and many people will enjoy it. However, for writers or people who like to pick books apart or have even a tinge of grammar Nazi in them, overall the book falls short with typos, missing words, half-edited sentences, punctuation issues, and many confusing pronouns. I give it 2 stars for writing as that's a hot button for me and will round the overall rating to 3 stars just in case I received an unedited copy. If you know the type of reader you are, you will either enjoy the series or experience some frustrations.

~ About the author ~

Tiffany Shand started writing short
stories when she was a child. After doing a creative writing course in her
teens, she discovered her love of nonfiction writing and is now a freelance
writer and professional editor.

She writes both non-fiction for
writers and fiction, and is the author of the urban fantasy Excalibar
Investigations Series. When she’s not writing, you’ll usually find her reading.

Tiffany lives in Essex, UK with her
family, two very spoiled cats and a hamster.

That was how the rhyme went. Every time traveler knew it. Everyone that is, except of course, for Alice herself, since she hadn’t invented time travel yet. Since returning to London, Alice’s life has been turned upside down. She’s been accused of murder and lost her position in the scientific community. Her only ally in this journey is a strange man who seems to think that Alice may be about to open up a strange new world of possibilities, but is probably not telling her everything he knows.

~ My Review ~

The Time Traveller's Resort & Museum is quirky and a dirigible full of fun. Imagine not only that you could travel in time, but also slip into worlds where anything imagined was real. Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur, dragons. Well, not dragons. Maybe.

Alice's world is turned upside down when she returns to England for a presentation with longtime friend Malcom and then he suddenly turns up dead. And she's the prime suspect. Luckily strange people start popping up to help her get away. Away from the police, away from the whole timestream where Malcom was killed.

Fabulous! Time travel exists. But the craziest thing is that Alice learns that sometime in her future, she's the one who invented it! We follow her twisted path to that invention along with her pet triceratops, a handsome pirate, a circus clown, and a mysterious oriental woman who knows Alice is a murder suspect and seems to be following her through time.

This was a really fun story. The writing was quirky and mostly fun although the tendency for many scenes to end in a telling mode, explaining what would happen in the future didn't always sit well with me. Mostly personal preference though.

The characters were well developed, descriptions excellent. And the illustrations which don't usually come with adult reads were cute and really added to the overall imagery. The book could use some more editing to correct a few typos and unfinished sentences but the story twists kept that from being a focus.

“You sound American,” an annoyed voice on the other end of the line said.

Alice dropped her bag. “I've been in New York for three years,” Alice said. “You're lucky I don't sound like I'm from the Bronx.”

It was Alice's sister, Wendy, giving what by her standards was a remarkably warm and friendly greeting. “You're lucky I don't steal your passport while you’re here and force you to teach Electrical Engineering at the University of the Orkneys. Electrical Engineering, that's what you do, isn't it?”

“You do realize that I just spent an entire evening in a metal tube, sitting on a very small seat that appeared to have been made from rocks confiscated from terrorists at security?”

There was the unmistakable sound of pursing lips on the other end of the phone. “What hotel are you staying at?” Wendy asked.

“The Kensington.”

Wendy thought about it. “I'll meet you, but let's meet somewhere else. There's a pub down that way that I've had my eye on.”

“Wendy–”

“I have to drive in all the way from Brixton. You can walk a hundred metres out of the hotel lobby.”

Alice sighed. She decided not to point out that in fact she had come quite a bit farther than hundred meters. “What's the name of the place?” she asked.

“The Gristle and Thorn,” Wendy said.

Alice spotted the word “EXIT” on the far side of the hall. “Couldn't find any place with a ghastlier name? Was the ‘Skull and Crossbones’ already booked?”

“Just meet me,” Wendy insisted, and for a moment, she did her best to sound kind. “I've missed you.”

It has been said that all journeys begin with a single step, and while it might seem that Alice's journey began all the way back at JFK, in actuality the first step of Alice's journey began with a decision. It was not a big decision, not the kind of thing that would strike a historian as a significant chapter in the decline and fall of the Western Empire, but for Alice Anderson, it was the equivalent of crossing the Rubicon. It was the simplest thing really – a choice of restaurants.

“The Gristle and Thorn it is,” Alice said, picking up her bag again and shuffling through the crowd.

Meet the Author:

David McLain is the author of the two novels: Dragonbait, and The Life of a Thief. His stories have been published in the anthologies Metastasis, Penny Dread II, and the Doctor Who Anthology Time Shadows, as well as over two dozen magazines. He has been featured on NPR's Off the Page and the History of England podcast. He lives in New York.

Felix Eddy graduated Magnum Cum Laude from Alfred University. She is the author and illustrator of A Bestiary Alphabet, and has illustrated several book covers and children's books. You can find out more about her at www.felixeddy.com

On May
30, 2004, the world transformed. Nearly all signs of civilization vanished,
leaving in their wake a bizarre landscape of wilderness, advanced technology
and magic, and leaving Harrison Cody very much alone. After weeks of surviving
in solitude, he hears a voice on the radio, beckoning him to cross a thousand
miles of terrifyingly random terrain to meet her, and other survivors, in
Chicago. Eager to find any remnants of humanity, he sets forth, joined by an
unexpected—and inhuman—companion.

For
Dorothy O’Neill, the end of the world means she will never finish ninth grade.
On her own, she builds a home in the ruins of a strip mall, relying on her
ingenuity and hard work to maintain some semblance of creature comforts. When
another survivor arrives, he brings futuristic technology and stories of
monsters he has encountered. Armed with this information, she takes a new
interest in exploring her world, but she is not prepared for what awaits her,
and the new arrival has brought his own set of problems.

On their
separate journeys, Harrison and Dorothy begin to piece together what has
happened to their world. Their questions have answers to be found in what
remains of Chicago, and from the mysterious voice on the radio offering the
hope that civilization can be rebuilt.

There are two sections to my review, first for people who’ve
never read Static Mayhem and second, for those who have and why they should
also read Prelude to Mayhem.

If you haven’t read Static Mayhem, then you should
definitely read Prelude to Mayhem now! This is a awesome story in which most of
Earth’s population has disappeared, leaving behind an odd scattering of magical
devices and creatures as well as futuristic human technology.

What would you do in such a world? Have fun, panic, search
for other humans? Probably some combination of all these. Harrison takes the
crazy event in stride, but as soon as he finds out there are other humans left
(from a radio transmission in Chicago) he’s on a mission to find them. Even
though it means a dangerous trek from the northeast US where roads suddenly end
in cliffs.

Along the way, he meets other humans and also magical
creatures along with finding out that something/someone wants him dead. He
meets Dorothy, a brilliant teenager surviving quite capably on her own and a
young boy who’s terrified of something, along with my favorite character,
Glimmer, a pixie.

What awaits them in Chicago? Of course not everything in
this tumbled world can be loving and beneficial. And even Harrison finds out
he’s been affected by magic in a completely unexpected way. Prelude to Mayhem
shows the reader how these characters will be capable of handling a lot.
Hopefully enough.

I thoroughly recommend this book. It’s a fun read with
extremely well developed characters in an unexpected world.

Now, for those who’ve already read Static Mayhem - no major
spoilers if you haven’t - I still recommend reading Prelude to Mayhem. While
it’s basically the first part of Static Mayhem, it has been updated and
explores more details of Harrison and Dorothy’s personalities. The chapters are
more balanced between the two POVs.

I think this will set the reader up even better for the
remainder of the story in the new version of Static Mayhem which is the final
part of the first story. But even better, I thought the development of Dorothy
was much deeper and made me appreciate her even more as a main character. I’ve
also read an early version of the sequel, Mayhem’s Children, and this version
of the start of the story sets up that book even better.

Aubry’s writing is awesome, the editing is quite good.
Definitely one of my top reads for the last couple years. 5 stars, highly
recommended.

~ About The Author ~

Edward
Aubry is a graduate of Wesleyan University, with a degree in music composition.
Improbably, this preceded a career as a teacher of high school mathematics and
creative writing.

Over
the last few years, he has gradually transitioned from being a teacher who
writes novels on the side to a novelist who teaches to support his family. He
is also a poet, his sole published work in that form being the sixteen stanza
“The History of Mathematics.”

He
now lives in rural Pennsylvania with his wife and three spectacular daughters,
where he fills his non-teaching hours spinning tales of time-travel,
wise-cracking pixies, and an assortment of other impossible things.

“Month9Books is turning 4 this year, and I could not be
happier. We are living proof that if you have a dream to write, create and
inspire, you should follow that dream and let nothing keep you from realizing
it. Thank you to all the readers, writers, agents, partners and friends who
have made this possible. We write for you.

--Georgia McBride, Publisher and Owner of Month9Books”

Thanks so much for 4 awesome years! We look forward to
celebrating #5 with you in 2017! We have something for everyone from every
genre from Sci-Fi to Fantasy to Paranormal and Horror! As a thank you, we're
giving away some well-loved books from 2015 and 2016. All paperback and
hardcover winners must reside in the United States. International readers may
receive only eBooks if they win.

Here’s a look at all of the books we have published through
the years!

Two and Twenty Dark Tales: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose
Rhymes

Very Superstitious: Myths, Legends and Tales of Superstition

Praefatio (Praefatio, #1) by Georgia McBride

THE Undertakers: Secret of The Corpse Eater by Ty Drago

Fledgling (Dragonrider Chronicles #1) by Nicole Conway

Avian (Dragonrider Chronicles #2) by Nicole Conway

Fire in the Woods by Jennifer M. Eaton

The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl by Leigh
Statham

Summer of The Oak Moon by Laura Templeton

The Undertakers: Last Siege of Haven by Ty Drago

The Artisans by Julie Reece

Into The Dark by Caroline Patti

Serpentine by Cindy Pon

Minotaur by Phillip Simpson

Nameless by Jennifer Jenkins

Ashes In The Sky (Fire in the Woods #2) By Jennifer M. Eaton

The Undertakers 5: End of the World by Ty Drago

The Requiem Red by Brynn Chapman

Emerge by Tobie Easton

There Once were Stars by Melanie McFarlane

The Paladins (The Artisans #2) by Julie Reece

Argos by Phillip W. Simpson

Traitor (Dragonrider Chronicles #3) by Nicole Conway

Rise by Jennifer Anne Davis

In The Shadow Of The Dragon King by J. Keller Ford

Hair In All The Wrong Places by Andrew Buckley

Genesis Girl by Jennifer Bardsley

Into The Light (Into The Dark #2) by Caroline Patti

un/Fair by Steven Harper

Operation Tenley by Jennifer Gooch Hummer

The Perilous Journey Of The Much Too Spontaneous Girl (The
Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl #2) by Leigh Statham

Sacrifice (Serpentine #2) by Cindy Pon

Clanless (Nameless #2 ) by Jennifer Jenkins

The Legend of The Pumpkin Thief by Charles Day

In The Beginning Anthology

Immortal (Dragonrider Chronicles #4) by Nicole Conway

Giveaway Details:

A total of 13 winners
will receive….

(1) Hardcover of SERPENTINE by Cindy Pon, US Only.

(1) Paperback of EMERGE by Tobie Easton, US ONLY.

(1) Hardcover of POPPY MAYBERRY: THE MONDAY by Jennie K.
Brown, US Only.

(1) Paperback set of THE DRAGONRIDERS CHRONICLES by Nicole
Conway, US Only.

(1) Paperback set of HAIR IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES by Andrew
Buckley, POLARIS by Beth Bowland, and ARTIFACTS by Pete Catalano, US Only.

(1) Paperback set of THE UNDERTAKERS SECRET OF THE CORPSE
EATER & THE UNDERTAKERS LAST SIEGE OF HAVEN, US Only.

(1) Paperback set of TWO AND TWENTY DARK TALES, THE REQUIEM
RED by Brynn Chapman, FIRE IN THE WOODS by Jennifer M. Eaton, & RISE by
Jennifer Anne Davis, US Only.

(3) Paperbacks of MINOTAUR by Phillip W. Simpson, US Only.

(3) International winners will receive a 5 eBooks of their
choice from books listed above.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

In Wicked Path: Book Two of the Daath Chronicles brother and sister are forced to opposite sides of Tarrtainya on a fast-paced adventure where the wildlife isn't the only thing trying to kill them.

Three months have passed since Avikar defeated the Reptilian Prince, and he still can't remember his battle with Lucino. On the hunt for answers, he returns to the scene of the fight and discovers a strange connection between his family's dagger and the mysterious kingdom of Daath, and it seems only his distant father can reveal the truth behind it all.

Before Avikar can travel back home, Lucy assaults him in the market and forces him to flee to Nod Mountains--a place few dare to enter, and even less return from. With Raven and her childhood friend by his side, they must survive the treacherous journey through the pass with a vengeful Lucy hunting them. If they don't, they'll never see home again.

Jeslyn's new life in Luna Harbor is the perfect remedy for her confused and broken heart. But when a group of mercenaries kidnap her beloved Grandfather, interrupting her daily routine as his jewelry apprentice, she's forced to join forces with the one person from her past she tried to forget.

And his assistance comes with a price.

Yay, book 3 is here! Crimson Tides picks up where Wicked
Path left off. We get three perspectives nicely woven through the story from
Avikar, Lucino, and Jeslyn. All three are on separate missions with conflicting
goals, so you know this will get tense!

It was nice to see Avikar struggle with his feelings toward
fallen comrades, his father’s mysterious past, and his blooming love of Raven.
Lucino’s character is also deepened, you have to root for him (most of the
time!) even though he has the ability and possible intention to slaughter all
humans. Jeslyn must decide the future she wants as well as take her own path to
get there – and by the end of the book, she is just learning the implications
of her choice, so there is more to come for all three characters, which I’m
glad to see.

There was a plot twist near the end that some people won’t
like and it made me sad. But then all the more determined to know how the story
continues.

This sequel is definitely worth reading. The writing is good
and Ms. Tilton’s fight scenes are quite exciting. And if you haven’t read it,
you should check out the short story Deadly Dance, which throws a fun twist in
showing how Lucy and Derrick ended up together in Crimson Tides.

Well done, 4.5 stars, rounding to 5.

Eliza graduated from Dowling College with a BA in Visual Communications. When she’s not arguing with excel at her day job, or playing Dragon Age 2, again, she’s writing. Her stories hold a bit of the fantastical and there’s always a romance. Her YA Fantasy series, The Daath Chronicles, is published by Curiosity Quills Press.

Our ship was gone, leaving us alone in an empty sea. Out here with nothing but calm water, I felt deserted; terrified. All those mornings I’d wished to venture out into the sea, to explore its beauty and splendor, I had no real understanding of the danger. How easily it was to be lost—and what about the creatures? We had no weapons, and if a shark attacked, how would we survive?

I wrapped my arms around my sides, praying and wishing this was all a horrific dream—that Grandfather was safe in his bed, snoring, and none of this was real.

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About Me

I live in Oregon with my husband, cat, dog and four horses .
I train and compete endurance horses, but I have awakened a long dormant desire to put the stories in my head onto paper (or appropriately arranged electrons).